North Korea continued to ease off the aggression pedal on Thursday by pledging to re-open a Red Cross communication line from South Korea and organize talks between the two countries in a border city. That's even more promising than their recent invitation to the South Korean managers of a jointly-run Kaesong factory, asking if maybe they'd like to go back to work in the factory where they were basically held hostage by Pyongyang.

"The statement by an unidentified spokesman for the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles relations with Seoul, followed the countries' agreement Thursday to hold talks on reopening a jointly run factory complex and possibly other issues."

President Obama will enter into talks with China's leadership on Friday, during which they're slated to discuss North Korea. And as we noted earlier this week, China and North Korea, who are usually relatively friendly, aren't exactly on the best of terms right now. So maybe this is Pyongyang putting on its best behavior just before Kim Jong-un's ears start burning.

The proposed talks would happen this weekend in Kaesong, the Northern city that's also home to a key, jointly-run factory. The industrial zone was shut in April as things got a little tense in the region. The invitation is in response to a South Korean proposal for June 12 talks at the Cabinet level between the two countries, Reuters noted.

But there's one thing the North has said they won't discuss in a meeting with the South, whenever it does eventually happen: the possibility of giving up their nuclear weapons.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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